24 Mar-Cayos Cochinos Arrival

Thurs, 24 Mar. i woke up every hour on the hour and then went back to sleep until 5am, when i woke up and stayed up ... needless to say, not a good night's sleep ! but, i was excited, and ready to go at 6am. arrived at the Ferry, prepared for the next phase of my Barrier Reef Adventure. Ferry left at 7am and we arrived at the dock in LaCeiba at 8:15. as promised, a taxi was waiting for me and wisked me off to the Shipyard .... these are all fishing boats. at the other end of the Shipyard, i saw the Galaxy Ferry that i just got off of, and the Ferry that took me to Utila ... i thought the Utila Princess was pretty big, ... but was dwarfed by the Galaxy (on the right) ! wow, she's big ! so we left the safety of the port. those are the mountains of Honduras on the mainland. and headed for the open seas with Capt Danny, a local who spoke perfect English! he is great! ... a rough crashing 1.5+ hr ride, about 10 miles, out to Cayos. i've long stopped being concerned about being in a small boat in a big sea with large waves. these guys know what they are doing. Cayos Cochinos is part of The Bay Islands. here is a map showing the relationship of Cayos Cochinos to Utila and Roatan. it consists of 13 islands: 2 larger islands, covered with thick tropical forests and massive striated rocks. and 11 smaller ones, ...the smallest of the islands is no bigger than the boat we were in, it doesn't even have trees ... just grass and sand. all the islands are ringed by white sand beaches. photo from the air. the surrounding waters were declared a Marine Reserve in 1994 with the help of the Smithsonian Institute. because of this, and the fact that the islands are largely uninhabited, AND that it's harder than hell to get to, the reef is in pristine condition and the marine life abundant. the only real inhabitants are the Garifuna peoples. and, oh, ... on the way, i learned that one of the 'Survivor' series are currently being shot on 2 of the smaller islands ! and then they appeared ! i didn't do much research on the topography. i hadn't expected 2 of the islands to be so large, nor hilly, nor forested! we arrived at the Dock at about 10:30am. and Mike gave me a brief orientation .., they are at my service :) they will prepare my dive equipment, .. i don't have to do anything, just show up at designated times for meals and dives :) oh, and by the way, i am the only guest ! ... i am the queen :) then he hauled my luggage up a walkway on the side of the hill to my room. that's my room at the end. ... with an incredible view overlooking the other large island and the sea. my nice clean, roomy, airy room. a huge tiled bathroom, with shutters to let a lot of light in. and, .... my favorite ... an open-air shower ! i got settled in and took a walk down to the shore. and around the resort. .... i now see why the resort is called Plantation Beach ... it is both a plantation and a beach. lunch was at 12:30; and then my first dive at 2pm. everything was already taken care of, i just got in the boat with Danny the Capt, and Will my Dive Master. Our first dive site was Lion's Head, a rather shallow dive at 40' with a beautiful sandy bottom and lots of large coral heads that we circled around. we had an awesome dive. i didn't take a camera with me, so you'll just have to take my word for it :) after about 45min, Will signaled that he was going up, and that i was welcome to continue to explore as long as i had sufficient air ... which i did. so i found another large coral head, and did a spiral around it starting at the bottom and working my way to the top, going around several times until i surfaced. ...... the first time i've ever been diving 'by myself'. at this point i wasn't very deep and the boat was just above me on the surface, so i was 'ok' with it. i feel very comfortable when i'm diving :) when we returned, i went for a snorkel at the 'House Reef' right out front. the clarity of the water was incredible ! and i got a not-so-clear photo of another new fish that's relative to the French and Blue Grunt .. named the Spanish Grunt. a French Angelfish, also not so clear ... and saw another Filefish and a Porkfish ... but no good photos of either :( i went back to my room, and met the resident iguana, who seemed unconcerned with me. then showered with REALLY HOT water and got ready for dinner at 6:30. after dinner we stayed around in the dining room, visited. then to bed ... i was tired ... and no one there stays up late.